Surgical apparatus



NOV. 4, w, cox ET SURGICAL APPARATUS Filed Dec. 16, 1958 INVENTOR- W/LBUR J Cox BYE'N/L W JTAN GER A TTORNEY Patented Nov. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SURGICAL APPARATUS Wilbur J. Cox and Emil W. Stanger, San Francisco, Calif.

ApplicationDecember 16, 1938, Serial No. 246,124

3 Claims. (Pl. 128 310) This invention relates to improvements in surgical apparatus and more particularly to a surgical drill instrument. In surgery it is well recognized that aseptic conditions mustbe maintained to the highest possible degree at the instant immediately preceding a surgical operation, and it is therefore highly desirable that instruments for performing surgical operations should be subjected to asepsis immediately prior to use and not require assembly after sterilization. Therefore, it ,is of great importance that an instrument of the character described herein should be capable of sterilization as an entirety in an autoclave, including the drill mechanism and the motor for rotation thereof. It is further highly desirable that the motor be encased within the instrument itself so as to procure the advantages of accuracy.

and power of direct drive between motor and drill mechanism; it is further important that instant control of the rotation of the drill be convenient to the hand of the operator.

It is one object of this invention to provide a.

accompanying drawing, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and details of construction of the apparatus may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

To more clearly comprehend the invention, reference is directed to the accompanying drawing up whereini Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the invention.

ads during its use, and not require assembly after bein asepticized. A further object is to provide a' surgical drill apparatus which may be manually manipulated so as to be guided by either hand or both hands of the operator and which may be manually directed in movement forwardly or rearwardly, as well as laterally. Another object is to provide a surgical drill apparatus which may be operated for sawing bone and the like in which the plane of the saw blade is parallel to normal. forward orbackward movement of the hand of "the operator and "simultaneously to provide a means by which'support may be afforded to the drill instrument and the saw blade for accuracy in operation. A still further object is to provide asurgical drill' apparatus adaptable for operation with a saw blade, a surgical drill bit, or a Kirschner wire, the latter being a name known to the medical profession for an elongated metal wire having a drill point, usually a diamond drill head, and employed for drilling through bone whichtisdeeply embedded in tissue, such as in the thigh or arm and leaving the drill wire within the incision for traction purposes in setting and further treatment of fractures.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which will be more apparent as this description proceeds, the invention is exemplified in one form in the novel construction and combination at parts hereinafterdescribed, illustrated in the Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1, from the lefthand side of the drawing, with the upper portion in -section to show detail of mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse view partially in section with portions shown in side elevation.

In Fig. 1 the apparatus is illustrated as employing a circular rotatable saw blade mounted on the drill bit, whereas in Fig. 3 the apparatus is illustrated as employing a Kirschner wire.

Referring to the drawing, in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views, l0 indicates generally a hollow casing having a substantially smooth exterior and preferably formed of four parts comprising a cup-like base Ill a cylinder body I0 a head In and a cap portion lll The head Ill and cap Ill preferably form a conical frustrum body. The base, cylinder body, head and cap are tightly fitted at their respective joints ll, ll Il, so that said joints are substantially impervious to moisture. Inour preferred embodiment of the invention, the axes of the cup-like base Ill and cylinder body HI are substantially at right angles, or perpendicular to the axes of the head Ill and cap Hi A motor ii of any suitable type is snugly mounted within the cylinder body lll Since the motor I2 is of any conventional, well-known type, it is believed unnecessary to describe its mechanism in detail other than to state that it has a rotatable shaft IS on which is mounted a suitable driving gear I 4, illustrated as a conical bevel drive which meshes with a plate bevelled gear IS, the

latter being fixedly mounted by a sleeve I6 on a rotatable arbor or drill shaft H, which is journaled at respective opposite end portions in antifriction bearings l8, IQ, for rotation axially of the head "1 and cap Ill. The bearing 18 is maintained in position by threaded plug 20 and shaft with the conical head ll, for which purpose the plate bevelled gear I! is of smaller diameter than the opening at joint il, the bevelled plate gear being mounted so that it meshes with drive gear ll at the side thereof which is between the axis of gear I4 and the joint il. This permits ready repair or replacement of parts of the drill, and also makes the antifriction bearings l8, l9 accessible from the interior of the hollow portions of the casing and permits sealing within the casing of lubrication of said bearings wherein the lubricating oil cannot come into contaminating contact with the drill point nor be dissolved by the sterilizing immersion of the drill in steam or water, nor can the bearings collect any infectious matter from operations.

At the rear end of the head IN is mounted a handle 22, one end of which is threadedly connected as at 23, to the head IN. The handle 22 serves for manipulation purposes to direct the drill and is also canalized as at canal 24 to receive an elongated extension of the drill shaft II, the latter extending rearwardly beyond the confines of head l through an opening 20. The drill shaft I1 is also tubular, and is capped at its rear end bya threaded plug 25 to prevent entry within the shaft of any grease or foreign matter. This elongation of the shaft or arbor l1 permits the employment of the elongated Kirschner wire 23 which is illustrated as being employed in the drill in Fig. 3, the wire 23 having a diamond drill point 21. A chuck 28 of any usual well-known type is mounted at the forward end of the shaft l'l so as to rotate therewith. The forward end opening of the cap portion l3 closely flts circumferentially adjacent to the chuck 20, as at 2!, and a suitable packing gland 30 may be also employed between the cap and chuck to provide a seal therebetween and prevent moisture from entering within the body II.

In order to facilitate the operation of the drill, a switch mechanism 3| for the motor I2 is carried by the cup base I! at which point it is readily accessible to operation by a finger of the operators hand which grasps the cylinder body, while the other hand of the operator may grasp the handle 22 for more emcient and dexterous manual manipulation ofthe device. I

Since one of the objects of the invention is to permit sterilization in an autoclave of the entire apparatus while it is assembled, it will be obvious that the joints II, II, H and 23 are tightly ntting and impervious to entry of moisture and that the opening 32 in the cap portion through which the shaft Il ismounted as well as the opening 33 which receives the electrical conduit 34 are likewise made impervious to entry of moisture. While we have shown the Joints Ii", il, and 23 as being threaded connections, other suitable connections may be employed, such as at the joint II where a tight frictional fit is employed and the joined parts secured against separation by a screw 38 passing through the abutting walls of the members.

In Fig. 1 the apparatus is illustrated as employing a rotary blade saw 33 mounted on the drill bit 31. Manifestly, the bit could be used as an ordinary drill without the saw being mounted thereon if the sur ical operation being performed should require such use.

We claim:

l. A surgical apparatus comprising a hollow casing sealed against entry of moisture and composed of a plurality of tightly joined body parts, a drill mechanism in said casing having a tubular rotatable drill shaft which extends free beyond the sealed portion of the casing and is adapted for mounting a chuck at its free end, and a packing gland at the free end of the drill shaft for preventing entry of moisture into the casing around the drill shaft, relatively spaced anti-friction bearings within the sealed casing for rotatively supporting the drill shaft, a motor in the casing having a rotatable drive shaft for rotating the drill shaft, and a handle mounted at the rearward portion of the casing substantially coaxial with the drill shaft, said handle bein canalized for receiving an end portion of the drill shaft, the portions of the casing housing the motor and drill shafts, respectively, being relatively perpendicular and the portion of the casing housing the drill shaft, beingconical and having a joint intermediate its ends whereby the head of the conical casing, the chuck assembly and the drill shaft may be removed from the casing as a unit and the anti-friction bearings made accessible from the interior of the conical portion of the casing.

2. A surgical apparatus comprising a hollow casing sealed against entry of moisture and composed of a plurality of tightly joined body parts relatively disposed so that one portion of the easing is perpendicular to another portion thereof, a drill mechanism in said casing having a tubular rotatable drill shaft which extends free.beyond the sealed portion of the casing and is adapted for mounting a chuck at its free end, and a packing gland at the free end of the drill shaft for preventing entry of moisture into the casing around the drill shaft, a closure for one end of the tubular shaft, relatively spaced anti-friction bearings within the sealed casing for rotatively supporting the drill shaft, a motor in the casing having a rotatable drive shaft for rotating the drill shaft, said respective motor and drill shafts being substantially perpendicular relatively, and a handle mounted at the rearward portion of the casing substantially coaxial with the drill shaft.

' said handle being canalized for receiving an end portion of the drill shaft, and the portion of the casing housing the drill shaft being conical and having a joint intermediate its ends at a longitudinal position of the conical casing whereby the head of the conical casing, the chuck assembly and the drill shaft may be removed from the casing as a unit and the anti-friction bearings made accessible from th interior of the conical portion of the casing.

3. A surgical apparatus comprising a hollow casing sealed against entry of moisture and composed of a plurality of tightly joined body parts, a drill mechanism in said casing having a tubular rotatable drill shaft closed at one end and having at its opposite end beyond the sealed portion of the casing a chuck which is adapted to receive the stem of a drill tool, antifriction bearing means within the sealed casing for rotatably supporting the tubular drill shaft, 0. motor in the casing for rotating the tubular drill shaft, said casing being sumciently sealed at its Joints and through its body to prevent entry of moisture thereinto and the tubular drill shaft having its tube sealed against communication with other portions of the interior of the hollow casing.

WIL'BUR J. COX. EMIL W; STANGER. 

